Latest Post
5-star review of Hitler, Stalin and I by Tulsa Book Review
Tulsa Book Review praises Heda Margolius Kovály’s Hitler, Stalin and I: “Oral interviews can be a gold mine for historians, and this is no exception. It provides individual experiences that get lost in the grand narratives, and it values the stories that people tell about how they lived through momentous events in their lifetimes.” 5 stars … Continue reading
Featured News Items
In Peter Sichrovsky’s short story “New York,” which was recently featured on JewishFiction.net, a Jewish couple living in Brooklyn consider their own survival of the Holocaust as they contemplate whether or not to attend a reception at the Austrian Embassy for the fiftieth anniversary of the end of WWII. Peter Sichrovsky is an Austrian journalist, author, … Continue reading
“Before I was going to meet Charles Paterson—the architect, hotelier, and patron who passed away on Aug. 8 at age 89 in Aspen, Colo.—a mutual friend gave me his autobiography Escape Home: Rebuilding a Life After the Anschluss,” writes Aaron Betsky, President of the School of Architecture at Taliesin in a tribute to Charles Paterson published in ARCHITECT. … Continue reading
“Polishchuk describes much of his life with a chuckle. He says that the book is, in part, meant to convey the absurdity of the Soviet experience.” Continue reading
We are saddened by the recent death of author, architectural designer, and hotelier Charles Paterson, who with his daughter, Carrie Paterson, founded DoppelHouse Press in 2011… Continue reading
In an advance review, Kirkus Reviews commends Palestinian journalist Asmaa al-Ghoul’s new memoir (with co-author Selim Nassib), which relates her experiences growing up and becoming a writer in Gaza: “Fierce and defiant, Al-Ghoul’s book is as much a celebration of Gazan resilience in the face of raging internal and external conflicts as it is of … Continue reading
A new review on The Common by Olga Zilberbourg highlights many feminist themes in The Consequences and the urgency to address issues of gender disparity in the art world: “I found the read to be so exhilarating that as the book drew to its close, it took effort to return to the question about the nature of Minnie Panis’s disappearances. The question: … Continue reading
Some of our favorite pull quotes from this very positive book review in ARTMargins: “Forgács makes a marked effort to describe fine art not only in terms of aesthetic categories, but also on the basis of its political significance.” “Heartily recommended to anyone curious about the history of modernism and avant-garde art in Hungary, … an … Continue reading
Malva, the unknown story of Pablo Neruda’s only child, has recently been reviewed by Kirkus Reviews: “This phantasmagoric novel by the celebrated Dutch poet Peeters (Maturity, 2011, etc.) is a strange experience, poetic in word and verse […] Malva’s voice is intriguing, having evolved beyond revenge or anger into a deeper acceptance. An evocative portrait of a … Continue reading
A feature in JAZZIZ Magazine on celebrated jazz musician Coco Schumann, entitled “Playing Music in Hell,” focuses on his experiences in concentration camps during WWII in a nine-page spread replete with photographs from throughout Coco’s life and excerpts from his memoir The Ghetto Swinger: A Berlin Jazz-Legend Remembers. “For posterity, [Schumann] left behind a lifetime of music … Continue reading
Publishers Weekly takes an in-depth look at the memoir of Russian Jewish dissident and human rights advocate Arkady Polishchuk in a special interview with Howard Lovy: A true story of Cold War bravery and danger … Polishchuk was an prominent Soviet journalist in the 1960s, yet as a Jew he did not fool himself about … Continue reading
Among a list of 20 outstanding translated books, DoppelHouse has two works of fiction recommended to book clubs by Ingram: From Germany: The Abolition of Species has been recommended by Library Journal for readers of Frank Herbert (Dune) and George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones). From the Netherlands: The Consequences has been called “a true must-read.. imagine a work by … Continue reading
“The depressing surroundings of Polishchuk’s life might be hard to believe for a Western person—but it is re-counted with such journalistic vision and style that reading the book is both enlightening and entertaining.” Continue reading
In this video featured on the culture blog Laughing Squid, Coco Schumann is the second guitarist discussed by musician Steve Onotera in his list of guitarists who found musical success despite facing great adversity. You can watch the full episode here and learn more about Coco Schumann’s life and autobiography on our book page.
Thank you, Julie Carbonara of The Jewish Chronicle for an illuminating obituary honoring Coco Schumann on Yom HaShoah: “He insisted he was a musician who survived the concentration camps, not a Holocaust survivor who happened to make music. Indeed for Coco Schumann, who has died aged 93, music, especially his beloved jazz, was as essential as … Continue reading
We’re excited to feature human rights advocate and author of our forthcoming book Dancing on Thin Ice: Travails of a Russian Dissenter (which will be released this July) at the American Library Association Annual Conference in New Orleans next month, where he’ll be reppin’ DoppelHouse Press with Publisher and Editor in chief, Carrie Paterson! Polishchuk’s … Continue reading
At the peak of his career an elite Russian journalist ceases to write. … But now his situation is worse than ever. The KGB begins using his magazine as a cover for its agents working abroad. … Continue reading
“In Samuel P. Willcocks’s masterful translation, The Abolition of Species is a transgressive revelation, a worthy philosophical successor to Wells’s generative novel [The Time Machine (1895)].” Continue reading
“Hours of film and voice recordings, much of it mould-damaged, believed to cover most of the [Slánský Trial] were found stashed in metal and wooden boxes – along with millions of classified Czechoslovak Communist party documents – in the basement of a bankrupt former metal research business in Panenské Břežany, near Prague.” Continue reading
In his first novel to be translated into English, Dath uses gender and evolution as underpinning motivations, with some interesting results. Continue reading
The spirit of Coco Schumann, who never gave up nor lost his sense of humor despite his experiences, was honored in a manner that he would have enjoyed. Continue reading
We are pleased to share with you our 2018-2019 catalog, downloadable or viewable online here. Cover art: László Fehér (b. 1953), Balcony, 1988. Oil on fiberboard, 250 x 220 cm, Municipal Gallery Kiscell Museum, Budapest. Courtesy László Fehér. From Hungarian Art: Confrontation and Revival in the Modern Movement by Éva Forgács. Design: Janet Le.
Manuscripts, the quarterly journal of The Manuscript Society, writes that this book “fascinates as a case study of a man driven by a lifelong compulsion, a psychological need, to combat oppression…a moving portrait of a compelling figure in a field rarely occupied by noble persons struggling to combat evil and right wrongs.” Continue reading
We must thank journalist and curator David Růžička for mounting and touring the traveling exhibition of Adolf Loos—A Private Portrait with photos by Claire Beck Loos and of the Beck family. Continue reading
An interesting view into the field of investigative journalism as we follow the author’s steps to find more information at the Archives de la Préfecture de Police de Paris [which] exposes the reluctance of the French police to come to terms with its own past. Continue reading
“Heda’s torturous path through some of the 20th century’s greatest calamities is rendered with deep wisdom and a poetic eye for detail. Her misfortunes, and her perseverance through them, make Hitler, Stalin and I both an important historical account and a testament to human endurance…A Czech writer who survived the Holocaust, Stalinism and exile gives a compact, … Continue reading
The notion that existence is ephemeral, flickering like a light bulb about to burn out, permeates the idea of contemporary culture that the author articulates throughout the novel. Its reach is both broadly horizontal, defining the production of the art world in which Minnie lives and works, and deeply vertical: it touches quotidian life in … Continue reading
This compelling personal and insightful tale of survival brings to light another brilliant and selfless Terezín artist. It is storytelling from the inside by a music-maker who rediscovered the humanizing power of jazz and swing at a time when it was needed most. Continue reading
Unusually interesting amidst the plethora of self-serving musician autobiographies. Schumann has a better story to tell … survival under the hardest conditions, the value of well-placed friends and the vagaries of fortune as well as the impulse to create. Continue reading
Don’t miss Pamela Joseph at Explore Booksellers in Aspen on March 9 from 5:30–6:30pm — “aprés ski”. “Of all the many books that have been published about Iran, none so viscerally conveys the absurdity of the censorship that bears on the nation, or the spirit of rebellion against it as The Artist, the Censor, and … Continue reading
“The Consequences is in part about and part of the art world’s commodification of resistance. But it is also about the relationship of an artist to their art, and of the struggles of artists to represent what is absent. […] That The Consequences is populated by many well known artists and illuminated by the description of their artworks is a beautiful treat for the part of the reader that loves learning about art history.” Continue reading
“It is hard to imagine a reader who would not be inspired by the momentous life of Heda Margolius depicted in Hitler, Stalin and I. [… The book] is at once a harrowing journey, a kaleidoscope of images and sounds. If a reader truly hears the haunting words as if they are spoken one can begin to understand … Continue reading
Thank you, Riot Material, for hosting this excerpt from The Artist, The Censor and The Nude by Glenn Harcourt about some of the remarkable contemporary artists in Iran whose work is informed by the censorship and/or disappearance of the body in public space. Continue reading
Don’t miss our event Sunday Feb 18 with multi-media artist Kurosh ValaNejad, who was recently featured in Kayhan Life for his contributions to the award-winning video game “The Cat and the Coup.” Continue reading
Glenn Harcourt in conversation with multi-media artist Kurosh ValaNejad. Join us on Feb 18 from 2-4pm at A.G. Geiger Fine Art Books, Chung King Ct., Los Angeles. Read more…. Continue reading
“Engrossing, immediate and real. […] I actually read the book in one sitting because I did not feel I could or wanted to stop.” Continue reading
In this moving tribute to Coco Schumann, Rochel Sylvetsky of Israel National News comments on the “impossible position” of Jewish Holocaust survivors in the diaspora in relationship to their homelands. Continue reading
Our DoppelHouse Press family is heartened to see so many touching tributes being paid to Coco Schumann. Smithsonian published a feature on Coco’s extraordinary success under horrific circumstances, noting that he “began his career during a fraught time for German jazz musicians.” Having survived the Nazi concentration camps because of his music, “Schumann returned to … Continue reading
Coco Schumann was born in Berlin on May 14, 1924. Throughout his life, he appeared in some of the best swing bands in Europe and alongside jazz notables … Continue reading
“Heda Margolius Kovály was a well-known writer and translator who survived the Auschwitz extermination camp and whose first husband, Rudolf Margolius, the deputy minister for foreign trade, was found guilty in the notorious Slánský show trial in what is one of the darkest chapters in Czechoslovak history. Kovály’s oral history should be required reading for … Continue reading
On December 11, 2017, author Erich Hackl (b. 1954, Steyr, Austria) was awarded The Human Rights Award of Upper Austria (“Menschenrechtspreis” des Landes Oberösterreich). “Confronting readers with detailed and meticulous research into the dark side of Austrian history, Erich Hackl [makes] an active anti-fascist contribution to the maintenance of humanity and justice of a humanistic society….” Continue reading
A sensitive and erudite exploration of the tangled relationships between synchronicity, identity, life, and art. Continue reading
The Consequences appears in World Literature Today’s January/February 2018 issue in the Nota Bene section. WLT writes: “In this sharp book of wry commentary, Minnie’s newfound fame and haunting past come together to explore the nuances of intimacy and identity.” Read the full review: http://www.doppelhousepress.com/Weijers-World-Literature-Today_Jan18-page91.pdf
“These books will help you understand others–and yourself–to improve your relationships and peace of mind throughout all of 2018.” The full list can be viewed at: https://www.inc.com/mareo-mccracken/12-great-books-you-should-definitely-read-in-2018.html
“Ably translated, the prose carries the tension of a spy novel. […] Sights and smells of laboratories are vividly rendered, along with the nuances of photoengraving and careful interactions with strangers and colleagues. […] This is a fascinating tribute to a humanitarian and a glimpse at the nuts and bolts of covert operations.” – Hallie … Continue reading
We are pleased to announce advance praise for Hitler, Stalin and I: An Oral History, scheduled for publication in January 2018. “In today’s political climate of rising extremist ideologies and nationalist tendencies, a new book, Hitler, Stalin and I, is an oral history that examines persecutions rooted in strong political rhetoric of exclusion. Czech author … Continue reading
The Literary Review (TLR): “The Consequences is reminiscent of Milan Kundera. Yet where Kundera employs himself as the didactic narrator, Weijers puts existential insights directly into the minds of her characters. The result is a much less controlled narrative, one which leaps from thought to thought without ever venturing an answer, and whose characters emerge as … Continue reading
Eugenia P. Treadwell writes: “This riveting story captures the reader’s imagination, bringing us back in time to Europe, Africa, and South America, including Nazi Germany, and the Algerian War of Independence. These harrowing moments of history are recreated through interviews with Mr. Kaminsky himself, offering rare insight from a forger’s perspective and how one person … Continue reading
Congratulations to author and architectural scholar Ivan Margolius for winning the annual writing prize through the British Czech and Slovak Association for his article about architects Karel Honzik and FRS Yorke. His forthcoming translation Hitler, Stalin and I: An Oral History, is now available for pre-order. It’s also worth noting that Ivan received the Second … Continue reading
“Minnie Panis is a Dutch artist of growing international reputation. One day, she opens Vogue and finds nearly nude photographs of herself featured in a fashion spread. She did not agree to pose for these pictures, and yet she instantly knows where they came from: a photographer she’d been sleeping with had betrayed her and … Continue reading
“Weijers masterfully slips back and forth between the (temporal) present and various pasts in Minnie’s life, elaborating on her disappearances and her sadness. … Weijers’ literary inspiration comes from Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days, but she leaves Beckett’s futility behind to deliver a deeply compelling search for meaning that at times turns on the slightest connections—like the fleeting … Continue reading
FEATURED BOOK
Visit our online magazine The Nomadic Journal for artist features on Katarina Burin (image below), Alberto Burri, Simon Clark, Miklós Erdély, Roza el-Hassan, Ilya Kabakov, Rona Lee, Charles Long, Maryrose Cobarrubias Mendoza, Richard Mosse, Nahum, Adrian Paci, Noah Purifoy, Gregor Schneider, and Liat Yossifor.
Featured works by Paul T. Frankl
